w00t! tweet!

I can register again so I can vote for 2010. Thank yew!

Note on Teachworth's Psychogenetics(TM) System

Is it just me, or what? Am I just imagining things when I see Aling Dionisia's mug every time I see Jinky Pacquiao's face?

I realize I haven't made a proper note yet on the retreat I have attended under Fr. Ed Fugoso, SVD, who has a specialty in Gestalt psychology and Ann Teachworth's psychogenetic system and therapy, which he combines with Scriptural interpretation. (Psychologizing things outside the context of spirituality is hugely problematic because the self ends up as god.)

Anyway, I mentioned the Aling Dionsia-Jinky Pacquiao mashup because that's basically what I learned from the retreat: Manny Pacquiao has unknowingly sought his own mother in choosing Jinky Pacquiao as mate, and the physical resemblance, even when remote, is not an accident but a big factor in the act of choosing.

In the same manner, I am largely my model parent (my father, in my case) even if I am not aware of it. I am controlled by my inner parent especially under duress. The Family of Origin Inventory test showed that I had absorbed all my behavioral traits from my father and mother, but especially the negatives from my father. Also, I learned that I am controlled by the unresolved issues of my inner child. I have also an inner adult, inner mate, and inner couple to contend with, supposing I have unknowing absorbed certain things I would never mean to or don't ever want to. The therapeutic intervention used, I think, is quite effective, involving a reprogramming or rescripting (via psychodrama and the empty chair technique) of what I have mistakenly absorbed as a child.

Why don't you try going through this intervention technique, to help understand yourself and your weird family better? You can contact Fr. Ed Fugoso, SVD at 0917-5414330.

Matters arising

- This list tells you how Top Ten lists like these are highly objective, so Chris, you want to quit being amazed by such lists (he-he): "
AP critics David Germain and Christy Lemire pick favourite films of the decade " As I pointed out to another friend, how can you rank art works? How can you rank stories? After all, a story is a story -- no such thing as a better or worse story.

- 5 Behaviors of Manipulative People - Chris (again), take note of item No. 3. Note also the author's use of "their" to refer to "a person."

To the author: That's wrong grammar, girl. That's one profound effect of the so-called gay rights bill: to redefine gender at its most basic meaning. And you people think that's okay? There are other equally startling repercussions. Just you wait until I get down to them. Oh, here's one example of reverse discrimination that could happen. Fascists! by contrast, one can be a raving atheist and teach higher studies at the Ateneo or the University of Asia and the Pacific.

- And unlike what this article suggests: Is gay marriage 'inevitable'?, no one is born gay. There is no proof of the gay gene. Wake up, world. Gays can change. Here's an alternative look at the history of the so-called gay rights movement, which was started by communists.

- I read this article and wonder whether I'm right about Filipinos and their self-hatred due to postcolonical trauma: The unbearable whiteness of being. Jessica Zafra posits that the Filipinos' fondness for whiteness might be all about wishing what we don't have, like the skating rinks at SM Megamall and Mall of Asia. But extend the picture further on to everything Western, and the picture is troubling. Zafra herself admits that brown Filipinos regard themselves as white -- hilarious observation but true! It is so true that, even when Filipinos find themselves in Caucasian lands, they look down on blacks, fellow Asians, and other colored people. The self-loathing is so complete that other Filipinos had to remind their fellow Filipinos that they actually have a non-white identity they can be proud of. The effort is, of course, an uphill climb to an elevator that's not working. (This topic deserves a book, don't you think?)

Attention: human rights activists

What about the human rights of Christians, huh? Aren't they human too?

"Every three minutes a Christian is being tortured in the Muslim world, and in 2009 more than 165,000 Christians will have been killed because of their faith, most of them in Muslim countries, according to a Human Rights organization":
NGOs: Hamas disinters Christians in Gaza

What dreams mean

The talk on dreams I attended yesterday just confirmed everything I instinctively thought and felt about dreams: that dreams are NOT meaningless nor they are to be ignored, but significant occurrences telling us something. The talk was particularly attractive to me because it was given by a Catholic priest -- dreams and priests? unlikely bedfellows, right? -- not by a New Age guru. A friend said she had attended a similar talk given by a New Age somebody but she ended up having nightmares every other night instead, not to mention astral travel. Assured that the topic was to be explored in the context of Christianity and prayer by Fr. Celerino Reyes, SJ at the Loyola School of Theology at the Ateneo de Manila University, I soaked up whatever new learning I could absorb.

It used to be that I didn't dream a thing, or couldn't remember any if I did. But as I got older, I tended to dream a lot. Some dreams I could remember, some dreams got hazy in my head. Some dreams I wrote down for posterity, some dreams I forgot deliberately or perhaps unconsciously. I have dreamed and am continually dreaming about so many things that perhaps you could call me a dreamer, a literal one. I dream about birds, bats, dead people, friends, family, UFOs, my slippers, name it. I dream in color, I dream with sounds, I dream with strong feelings.

What are dreams? Are dreams good or evil? Or are they amoral, like feelings, entirely dependent on the posture of one's heart? From the talk, I learned that there are various theories that try to explain away dreams, and Fr. Cel made use of one or two theories that he thought were the most plausible, making use of these three resources:

Dream and Spiritual Growth by Louis Savary, Patricia Berne, and Strephon Williams (1984)
At a Dream Workshop by Betsy Caprio and Thomas Hedberg SDB (1988)
Dream Work by Jeremy Taylor (1983)



Dreams, we learned, are basically "symbolic experiences lived out in the inner world during sleep; series of images, thoughts, words, and feelings we seem to have little or no conscious control of." (Savary, Berne, and Williams) Made up of often "inconguent" personal symbols, dreams are thus a kind of "road to the unconscious," a coded revelation of "how our experience of life affect us." They merely "reflect experiences that are either ignored, set aside, denied, or repressed." Dreams are all about thoughts and feelings we don't want to face, desires covered up.

The word "personal" was emphasized because, unlike websites that claim to interpret dreams, there is no such thing as universal dream symbols. One's symbols are one's own personal representation, so the dreamer's own interpretation is the most accurate one.

A person who wants to be honest with herself would therefore want to connect with her dreams. As the Talmud reportedly puts it, "A dream that has not been interpreted is like an unopened letter."

Fr. Cel noted that one-fourth of our life is spent sleeping, so resting is a phase in which God may be actively involved. "A dream says something about our life now," he emphasizes.

The speaker then lost no time in walking his audience -- a motley crew -- through the different ways of intepreting dreams:

- making a dream log using Freud's free association technique (something I've been doing on and off for years)
- personal prayer-journaling
- Gestalt technique (Lectio Divina) - contemplation via sciptural passage, in which all characters or objects represent a part of the dreamer

In clarifying further what dreams are, Fr. Cel made syntactical distinctions between "signs" (have specific meanings, as in a traffic light) and "symbols" (have many levels of psychological meanings, as in the Philippine flag) and "imaginary" (something meant to be not real) and "imaginative" (being able to make present what is not). He then upholds dreams as a "gift," "our creative way of using our imagination." J. Noonan, Jr. was then quoted as saying, "Imagination is the faculty that permits us to imitate, intuit, empathize, and create." Then we were brought to Sally Ann Reynolds' thought that "[i]magination shapes human desire and, without it, there is no action." As Fr. Pedro Arrupe, SJ, once put it, "What you are in love with, what seizes your imagination, affects everything."

Dreams, Fr. Cel continued, have four characteristics:

- created by the dreamer,
- related to a present concern,
- have meaning linked to life experiences, and
- have feeling tone and mood.

Feelings associated with dreams, he adds, are important in discerning the movement of spirits. Negative feelings are associated with bad spirits.

Understandably, we don't want to face our negative feelings, Fr. Cel noted next. But face them we must, or we become deadened to our own inner selves. Quoting Fr. Michael Heher in The Lost Art of Walking on Water, a book on reimagining the priesthood, "When we stop listening to our feelings long enough, we begin to stop feeling them. Our imaginative life shrinks. We become persons who have lost our affect" (heart). He adds the caution that, of course, "it doesn't mean we act on our feelings; it only means we have to recognize those feelings as being part of us."

One knows one has decoded the meaning of one's dream when the interpretation makes sense to the person right that moment. There is an Aha! moment, the feeling of "It fits my situation, it fits my life!"

"Repetitive dreams or recurrent themes or symbols," he said, "convey an important meaning. Clear, vivid dreams are especially important." "One of the predominant meanings of dreams is that of existing fear and anxiety."

Jeremy Taylor: "The effort of remembering dreams often results in startling insights, creative ideas, and more conscious understanding of confusing emotions."

Henry Miller: "To dream is to see with new eyes."



At this point, he quoted this amusing thought: "What if you slept?/And what if, in your sleep, you dreamed?/And what if, in your dream,/you went to heaven and plucked a strange and beautiful flower?/And what if, when you awoke,/ you had the flower in your hand?/Ah, what then?" - Samuel Taylor Coleridge, English critic and poet.

In the open forums (fora?) that followed the sessions, a lot of dream-related questions cropped up: questions on dreams as prophecy, hanging dreams, dreams about the death of another person (it could be referring to the death of a part of the dreamer), Jung's "collective unconscious," "spirituality of dreams," etc. There were simply too many subtopics to report here. One of the points that impressed upon me the most is that "Dreams tell you where you put your energies, and thus explains your current spirituality."

As mentioned above, feelings/emotions are important components of dreams. Blessed Peter Faber, one of the best retreat guides of St. Ignatius, was quoted as saying: "If one wants to know where the Spirit is in one's life, you help him know his feelings and emotions."

"Feelings, as especially noted in our dreams, reveal our needs. Joy means needs met; anger, needs unmet; sadness, needs no longer met; fear, needs that might cease to be met; shame, I-should-not-have needs; curiousity, needs that might be lost; and disgust, "I don't need this!"

"Feelings reveal our human side," feelings are "data for discernment," as per John Govan, SJ. "If we are to clearly understand them, we must see them in the light of God."

"Together with faith, dreams help us balance the two energies we need in life: the energy we need for the journey, to keep the rhythm of life, and the death-rebirth energy needed to deal with life's crises or major changes."

"It is how we use these energies that will describe our own personal spirituality. Is this spirituality a journey towards God/good?"



Another unexpected thing I learned is that daydreaming is just like dreams, but of the conscious kind. They should not be ignored as well because they also expose our hidden feelings and desires. Being the loyal Atenean, Fr. Cel added, "Ignatius' conversion to God was through a daydream!" "Daydreams are more likely to have our consciousness involved in their creation, but they still give us information in the same way that the night dream gives it to us" (Caprio and Hedberg).

The last session is about ways of looking at dreams through the four dimensions of development: childhood, personal growth, sexuality, and spirituality. "Could your dream be about unresolved childhood issues? Or is it about what you still need to develop or look at to be a well-rounded or loving person? Could it be about your sexual (genital) ways, or the ways you relate to certain people? What creative or spiritual potential of yours might it be? Our dreams can help us answer such questions by connecting the images to our inner dynamics."

"A dream's meaning can be unlocked by looking for the parts of your innner self that the dream images represent, then asking 'Where might that image, person, situation, etc. be within me?' Choose an interpretation that shows you something about yourself that you didn't know previously, not one that infaltes your ego or shifts responsbility away from yourself. Dreams are trying to teach you something and call you to growth."

"Intuition is our access to mystery."

"Make the dream more conscious to you by doing a ritual that will imprint its meaning on your conscious mind."

Carl G. Jung: "I know that if we meditate on a dream suffuciently long and thoroughly, if we take it about with us and turn it over and over, something almost always comes of it."

As to dreams as prophecy, Fr. Cel said that there might indeed be certain individuals gifted with dreams meant to be prophetic, not just for personal benefit but for collective benefit. The Bible is no stranger to dreamers who dreamt prophetic visions. Scriptural examples of dreamers-prophets include:

Numbers 12:6 - prophecy from God
1Kings 3:9-15 - wisdom of Solomon
Gen. 28:10-22 - Jacob's dream
Mt. 1:18-25;2:1-15 - Joseph's dream

Nothing was mentioned about the famous dreams of the other Joseph, Joseph the Dreamer, whose life story has been the subject of musicals, but I guess the above examples are good enough.



**

For costs and reservations info about other Loyola School of Theology talks and workshops, visit www.cisphil.org or send email to cis@cisphil.org or cisphil@gmail.com. Visit the Center for Ignatian Spirituality Office, Seminary Road, Ateneo de Manila Campus, Katipunan Avenue, Quezon City or call (02)4264250- 51 and look for Ms. Marie Sandrino or Ms. Joy Drilon-Panti.

Weird wired world

I read this ("A Decade of the Internet") and remember this time last year when I went through the weirdest time in my life as an online worker. I was home in Bayambang, Pangasinan for the holidays but I was asked to copyedit a file by my boss, who texted me all the way from New Zealand. He flew to that part of the globe to be with his family as well. The editor, meanwhile, was touring Europe at the time, so we were constantly coordinating with him via YM, as we learned he's in some airport in Italy, then Amsterdam, and so on, doing his end of the job. In case we saw each other in the actual office in Makati, it was only to say hi and bye.

Stop the cheating

Because of rampant fakery, I need to have my birth certificate "aunthenticated" at the National Census Office, as though I'm not a natural-born citizen. What a drag. That means precious hours lost, money lost.

Because of election-related cheats, my name in the voters' list was purged, as though I was a communist or something. Did you know that I need to file a leave of absence -- in advance -- just to be able to register again?

Because of cheats, I need to present more than one ID to encash checks at the bank.

Because of cheating, the Philippine passport is looked upon with suspicion, and other people are denied visa.

Because of cheating, consumers might end up buying substandard, if not downright poisonous, products.

Because of a defective product by a Christmas light faker, the mansion of the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and other unfortunate houses, went up in flames, sometimes killing a beloved family member.

Because of vaccine fakers, the source of the rabies vaccine had to be centralized by the Department of Health in only two hospitals in the whole country, the RITM in Alabang and San Lazaro Hospital in Manila. Ridiculous, right?

Will this culture of cheating ever end? Other people get hurt every time someone cheats.

If we turn cynical about it, so much of our current civilization is founded on cheating.

We have written entire codes to safeguard humanity gainst cheats -- BFAD approvals and authorizations, DTI's seal, municipal office's blue stamp on meat, DOST-inspected balancing scales, etc.

Cheating thrives, and there's a breakdown of trust. Ironically, our human nature is built on trust, else we'd all become walking paranoid. In a world governed by cheating, fear becomes a virtue. Those with unhealthy distrust are not malicious but wise. What a sad world, a world upended. Good thing, or we hope, there are far more trustworthy people running the world than unworthy.

(I've covered much wider ground here: "Cheating: a force of nature")

**

Other matters arising

- California has a Chihuahua crisis - Wow, what a nice crisis to have. I wish to have that kind of crisis.

- Loneliness makes cancer 'more likely and deadly' - They said it! That's what we've been suspecting all along.

- 8 Signs You Might Be Boring Someone

Cohen outs progays

Richard Cohen outs devious progay agenda in the "Homosexual Manifesto" called After the Ball, the progay bible. Here's Cohen's outline.

If these people are really after something good, why use spins, slanters, PR strategies, outright lies, and all that? Are they like merely selling a political product? Tsk tsk tsk. Manipulative. Let's not allow ourselves to be held captive by the progay agenda.

Here's a more comprehensive list of what Cohen says are the causative factors for homosexuality. Hope this helps us bring up our sons and daughters right and salvage those showing tendencies at early age.

I'm still awaiting another list that comes with peer-reviewed scientific references that worked on data with replicable results.

Meanwhile, it's good to review the language of lobbyists to sift through their lies.

Rhetoric 101
Fallacies 101: your compleat guide to detecting falsehoods
Jib Fowles' 15 basic appeals in advertising

The tragedy, however, is that congressional hearings are not exactly about who's telling the truth or not, who's right and who's wrong, but who has a better PR machinery. Sigh. Admittedly, the real deciding factor, though, is the politics and values of our reps. Populist reps will, of course, only listen to what's popular. But if popularity is what many reps want, they might be suprised how unpopular their stand on this issue is. Additionally, don't you find it ironic that those introducing bills critical to the founding principles of the state are not even the regular reps but the party-list reps?

Analysis of the Ampatuan massacre by Bertini “Toto” Causing

(Forwarded email)

Analysis of the Ampatuan massacre by Bertini “Toto” Causing

An analysis, in the wake of the Ampatuan murders, by Bertini “Toto” Causing, a member of the board of the National Press Club of the Philippines and also legal consultant for the National Press Club. Mr Causing is columnist both of Hataw and Police Files Tonight. With the kind permission of Paul Brinkley-Rogers.

ANALYSIS

You must know that Norberto Gonzales as Defense Secretary is a “terror” operator and if he is to work with political operator Ronaldo Puno, they become a dreaded pair.

Remember that Gonzales came from National Intelligence Security Agency, from where came the Vidal Doble who taped Garcillano’s talks with Gloria.

Also remember that Puno (the bad one) was instrumental in making Miriam Santiago lose to FVR and in Garci operations in Mindanao.

You must also know that before the Ampatuan massacre, there were hell-bent planning sessions on how Gloria could possibly hold over, de facto or de jure.

They were looking at how they can foment war in Muslim areas to have a justification for sinister plots. Instead of launching war against MILF and MNLF which is expensive, what Gonzales did was to make “chismis” circulating between two possible warring clans.

The timing was perfect because Datu Andal Sr. was so worried how he can stay in power because of the three-term limit. Andal Sr. even went to the Comelec in the Province of Maguindanao to ask what should he do to enable him to run again for the 2010 elections.

A “bobo” Comelec official advised him to take a leave. Another Comelec official advised him to resign. Confused, Andal Sr. went to Malacanang and asked an Arroyo confidante what to do. And Andal was told that the only way for him to hold on to power is to prevent elections there from happening. And he was advised to do what is necessary.

I do not know what was the advice; but I surmise that he was egged on not to give in to the Mangudadatus who were hell bent on grabbing power from him. In short, “binatirya” or “tsinismis patalikod ang mga Mangudadatu kay Andal na aagawin ang poder sa kanila.”

And once the power is taken over, the Mangudadatus would take revenge for the earlier raids done on them resulting in seizure of firearms. Obssesed with desire to keep power revved up by “chismis”, the Ampatuans harbored deep hatred and extreme fear of losing power.

And to ensure that no election shall occur, the killings should be done with extreme brutality to justify “martial law,” a condition when no election can be held in the province.

They were only looking at killing and burying to nowhere the Mangudadatus and families so that they would only be recorded as missing and would be charged against the rebels or Abu Sayyaf, not thinking they would be including 30 journalists in their plan for they did not think that Mangudadatu would ask for the help of media men.

And if there would be martial law, the Ampatuans stay in power under the hold-over principle. But their game plot failed during the execution. Thank God: before they knew it, Toto Mangudadatu was able to know the abduction because his wife was able to call him up, prompting Toto Mangudadatu to call for Army assistance; the soldiers responded quick enough that forced the killers to escape even though the other victims were not yet buried, leading to the discovery of the plan; thus, the execution failed.

The original plot was just to make it appear that the victims disappeared mysteriously so that it can be blamed to heightened rebellion that would justify attacks on MILF which, in turn, would justify martial law.

Until here, I believe I have answered now the question why it should be as brutal as this. It was the Ampatuans who did the act and planned the act. The Gloria government only happened to have benefited from it to justify martial rule.

What would be the net effect when martial law gains momentum in Maguindanao? It will embolden the Gloria machines to do the same in other Muslim provinces: (a) Wahab Akbar’s family vs Gerry Salappudin’s in Basilan; (b) Sakur Tan clan vs Tupay Loong clan in Sulu; (c) Jaafar clan vs opponents in Tawi-Tawi; (d) Dimaporo clan in Lanao Norte against a challenging clan; and (e) Many clans in Lanao Sur.

If Norberto Gonzales would have his way, he wanted all of them to fight each other to justify martial law in the rest of Muslim provinces.

Remember that the total number of votes in these provinces is substantially big enough to cause suspension of proclamation of winners in Presidential, Vice-Presidential and Senatorial races.

So that when proclamation cannot be had and it will be aggravated and prolonged by creative petitions and protests to be filed before the Comelec, the Speaker of the House (Gloria) would act as Acting President.

Why? Since there would be no president, vice president and senators who would be proclaimed, the Speaker takes over under the Constitution. Gloria would argue that the 12 present senators cannot choose a Senate President because it needs at least 13 votes to elect the Senate President.

Another plus or bonus for them: the House of Representatives will approve to extend martial law by means of them voting together with the Senators where the senator’s vote is only one. A dummy petition shall be filed to question the act of “voting jointly” by means of outnumbering the Senators; and hoping the Gloria-appointees- dominated Supreme Court would rule that “voting jointly” means lumping together the senators and the congressmen and each of them has only ONE VOTE.

And when the Supreme Court would go Gloria’s way, they would now implement House Resolution 1109 calling for the senators and congressmen to “vote jointly” for a CON-ASS to pave the way for a parliamentary government.

This PLUS or BONUS may happen before or after the 2010 elections. If it happens after elections, the picture that you would see is that the leading candidates for president, vice-president and senators cannot be proclaimed because their margin of leads can still be overturned by the total votes in areas where voting would be deferred till eternity by Martial Law. So that this is a GRIM POSSIBILITY.

Patriotically yours,

Toto Causing

After all the grieving is done

(More Inner Child Retreat stuff from Fr. A.)



A TIME TO HEAL

The task of Transformation involves:

1. Grieving: Naming, Claiming, Blaming
2. Letting Go: Balancing, Choosing
3. Reframing

Review: Grieving

Grieving means saying This painful experience happened to me. I don't deserve it. It hurts. I'm not happy about it at all.

I will exert effort to remember my pain and how it hurt me. I will never forget. Forgiveness doesn't mean forgetting. Grieving is remembering.

Grieving is accepting. I hid behind the masks of my false self till now. I will not deny the damage. I will not pretend to be not in pain.

I will brave the desert. I will face the ghost of the past. I will embark on my own inner journey.

I will claim my own freedom as birthright. My tragedy is that I buried the hurt, but also the good.

I will face my pain by looking at the tip of the iceberg: my conscious self, of which I'm in control. Then I will take a look at my subconscious, which is controllable, depending on if I want to touch it. Most importantly, I will investigate my unconscious, of which I have no control -- it controls me!

The earlier the wounding happened, the more it will control me. My wounded child will especially assert itself when I reach midlife (35 years old for women and 40 years old for men).



Letting go

After the grieving comes the time to let go. Letting go means saying I am wounded but I have survived. I set myself free from the shackles of survival living. I expect blessings to come out of my woundedness.

Balancing

I will count my blessings and remember my consolations. I will not play helpless, nor resort to punishing the injurer. I will not take revenge.

But I can't possibly find my consolations nor count my blessings if I didn't face my sorrows first. The road to the wonder child is through the wounded child. And it's a one-way road. No shortcuts.

Balancing the scales is the turnaround of the forgiving process. I won't just say Done or Move on because it means Just take it, Just grin and bear it, I'm helpless. Nor will I punish the injurer and exclaim in triumph, See I have control. Nor will I mock-punish the injurer, which is neither healthy. What I'll do is load up on resources and say, See, I'm not helpless.

Setting free

I will set myself free from the debilitating power of the injurer over me. I will not expect anything. I will not keep the injury in my books. But I will not allow myself to be hurt once again.



Reframing

Even underserved pain has a reason to happen. I choose to be happy even when I do not fully understand why things have happened.

(Happiness is not a set of conditions. Happiness is a personal decision.)

Believing

I will adjust my beliefs about life. I will subscribe adamantly to the forgiveness principle: "There is nothing I cannot ever forgive." I will not stifle the new life and precious learning emerging from the pain and chaos.

Harm comes to everyone; moral contracts cannot prevent it. But alarger purpose (God) has a reason, however mysterious, for injuries that befall people. The test of a person's character is faith -- how well he functions even when he cannot understand God's plan for him.

Why forgive? Because that's how God deals with me!



Moving on

I will continue to believe the beauty of life and the goodness of people. I will not close my heart to my injurer. I will not be selfish with my prayer for him nor be a miser in wishing him well.

This is most probably the reason why I suffered: to learn my lesson and teach others. Why teach? Because if I can't share my experience, it will lose its value.

I know, however, that total and complete healing never happens. There are two kinds of virtues: acquired virtues, which I need to work out, and infused virtues, which I wait for as a work of grace. I know it is never easy to be good. What I want is to grow in virtue, both through my own effort and through the grace of God.

My goal is not total healing, but adequate healing. Aches and pains are the healing moments of life. Life has a way of healing us. That's what we do to diamonds to bring out its sparkle: go through sculpting and intense refining. You and I are all diamonds in the rough.

It's my life -- my own healing journey from slavery to woundedness to the freedom of genuine humility -- in my own wish to set myself free from the protective cage I have built for myself.

I will not allow the devil to continue attacking me through my weakness, like a military commander, a false lover, or a woman who gets at me slow by slow to realize her devious agenda. The demon says Keep your dark secrets, but I will not abide.

But it doesn't mean I have to tell all my secrets. The recipient may not be able to bear it. The rule of life is: Be prudent. Prudence is the governor of all virtues. I will instead open up to those who can: confessors and good psychologists. It's good to keep secrets. We need it for psychological space.

Everyone has a past. But everyone also has a choice.



My credo

I believe no one was born to hurt another human being.
People hurt each other because they too are victims so...
I will blame you when you hurt me.
But I refuse to hurt you. That's my call.
I love myself. No one can do it for me better than I do.
When you hurt me repeatedly, I will be prudent enough to keep distance from you.
I will still pray for you.
I will continue the good I am doing to you.
That's exposing my other cheek.
It is my choice.
I refuse to sulk.
I will give my pains to Christ that He may continue healing and saving the world.
These are my personal victories.
Always.
Each one of them.



I will cherish my memories.
In my joys God celebrates life with me.
In my sorrows God creates new life in me and with me.
I believe deep in my heart that I am never done in my pains.
God shares my pains. By his wound I am healed.
I am a prophet of life.
My deserts shaped my message.
No light is placed under a bed.
I will share my story. (There are no lessons from joyful stories.)

I will love my life. It is much to precious, much too short to waste away.
I will harvest the multicolored blessings
God has strewn in abundance along my path.
I shall believe in myself even when the sun isn't shining.
I have in me all the powers to bounce back.
I am gifted with resilience.
I will be gentle. As much as I could and as far as I can remember, I will hurt no one.
Especially the children.
Only then shall I come out victim no more.
I amstill alive.
Despite all the hurts I carry within me, my system is still strong enough to carry the load. I will be thankful for everyday.



My covenant

I will take care of myself.
I will accept myself just as I am. (So I will be of use to others.)
I will appreciate myself, taking delight in being a special person. (Unity is not uniformity.) (Angels have no soul, so they are not children of God and are not saved by God.)
Jesus has a particular pain just for me.
I will approve myself. I will celebrate my successes and efforts towards positive undertakings.
I will affirm myself, valuing my uniqueness and my gifts. (I don't have to compete.)
I will show affection to myself. I deserve to be loved and cherished. I will embrace myself everyday.

Note for Rep. Abante

In regard your most recent pronouncement, the following passages will explain why I believe criminalizing homosexual acts (including gay marriage and at least between two consenting adults within the confines of their bedroom) per se is quite extremist and problematic, in the face of our "secular democratic project" vis a vis our private religious beliefs. I believe it is enough to block these things from becoming normal and natural via legislation.

To quote Cardinal Lozano Barragán's reiteration of the Church's teaching on grave sin: "The only thing I can say is that for grave fault to exist, in addition to needing grave matter, one needs full knowledge and full consent: Where one of those three conditions is lacking, there is no grave fault."

"Full knowledge and consent" is apparently absent in the case of homosexuality. As the Catechism of the Catholic Church on homosexuals and homosexuality (Nos. 2358 and 2359) states: "The number of men and women who have deep-seated homosexual tendencies is not negligible. This inclination, which is objectively disordered, constitutes for most of them a trial. They must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity. Every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided. These persons are called to fulfill God's will in their lives and, if they are Christians, to unite to the sacrifice of the Lord's Cross the difficulties they may encounter from their condition.

"Homosexual persons are called to chastity. By the virtues of self-mastery that teach them inner freedom, at times by the support of disinterested friendship, by prayer and sacramental grace, they can and should gradually and resolutely approach Christian perfection."

As we can see, there is, even in the area of morality, a gray area in the case of compulsions, sexual or not. I believe we must err on the side of Christian charity in this issue. In battling the fascist legislative abuse by those who want to take advantage of this gray area, we must take care that we also don't come off as judgmental to those exhibiting "inherently disordered" behavior, which is a psychological phenomenon that has a strong unconscious element. There is the factor of real (i.e., nonpolitical) victimhood in any homosexual's story that we have to consider, even though progays don't acknowledge it (denial? self-delusion?).

When the time comes that the other camp shows imminent succeess in criminalizing what used to be normal and legal and moral and right, then perhaps that's the time we can respond with a corresponding set of criminalizations.

Lifted page

The betrayal of "real men"

"Toward the end of March, Alice Manfred put her needles aside to think again of what she called the impunity of the man who killed her niece just because he could. It had not been hard to do; it had not even made him think twice about what danger he was putting himself in. He just did it. One man. One defenseless girl. Death. A [cosmetics] sample-case man. A nice, neighborly, everybody-knows-him man. The kind you let in your house because he was not dangerous, because you had seen him with children, bought his products and never heard a scrap of gossip about him doing wrong. Felt not only safe but kindly in his company because he was the sort women ran to when they thought they were being followed, or watched or needed someone to have the extra key just in case you locked yourself out. He was the man who took you to your door if you missed the trolley and had to walk night streets at night. Who warned young girls away from hooch joints and the men who lingered there. Women teased him because they trusted him. He was one of those men who might have marched down Fifth Avenue -- cold and silent and dignified -- into the space the drums made. He knew wrong wasn't right, and did it anyway."

- from Jazz by Toni Morrison (pp. 74-75)

Generation Z

(Back to regular programming, I hope)

I almost missed this, I being in semiretirement from the bombardment of pop culture. But I believe it is of great import enough to be worth a historical footnote. I am referring to the recent use of "z" in place of "s" in the pluralization of words.

This encroachment of deliberate misspelling has wreaked havoc in the lives of linguists everywhere. One wonders where it came from. Some commentators noted that it gained a critical mass after the global popularity of Bratz dolls (and the TV show and movie) reached the tipping point.

Long before the advent of Bratz, though, I noticed the spelling rebellion happened years earlier in the animation movie Antz. The creators could have spelled it the right way, but why "Antz"? Well, the answer is really a no-brainer. In the "Ants" vs "Antz" debate, "Antz" will win hands-down if we let the target audience decide for us, they whose names are rebelliously misspelled to Nanz, Jinkz, Cindz, Jonz, Jamez, Renz, and Reimz. This comes with the presupposition that their respective parents and teachers are at work and not watching at the time of choosing.

"Antz" has a playful, jazzed-up appeal. The use of "z" gives the thrilling freedom of rebellion from authority. Fresh, fun, and youthful are the operative principles underlying the adaptive response. Besides, these kids must think: that's how we are supposed to pronounce certain words using s anyway, as in /roze/ to refer to "rose." We might call these kids of today as buzzards -- or killer bees.

The end result, however, is the juvenile version of a middle finger raised against the Spelling Bee Establishment (that's us aged >30). We are all now threatened with a barrage of future resumes with lines like "heya, hire meeh! watch u tink :p ?"

Filipinos, being the shameless wannabe Americans that they are, are only too happy to follow the lead of the killer bees. Our own Generation Z has evolved certain terms such as

- "muzta?" for "kumusta?" (which is already a corruption of the Spanish "como esta?"),
- "LOLz" to stand for "much laughter,"
- "ingatz" to mean "take care much,"
- and other deviations from the invading infection from pluralistic bacteria.

(Earlier names like "Bhoy" and "Behn" are our own unique inventions, though, which were meant to be our verbal take on fake blond hair or highlights.)

Inez, nakakainez noh? LOLz.

Traits of people with unresolved sexual trauma

(Still from the Inner Child talk I attended)

Some persons' traits may turn out to be NOT personality traits (which are natural and normal) but subtle signs of unresolved trauma, sexual or otherwise.

Timidity - the false security of shame and fear; not humility but a phase of protective pride

Sensitivity (or Oversensitivity) - the tyranny of unresolved trauma resulting in moodiness and lack of peace or equanimity; being unconsciously controlled by feelings, which are natural but have no mind of their own

Complacency - resulting from the ego of mystified secrets and masks; still a form of protective pride

Authoritativeness (or more accurately, Unjustified authoritativeness) - the unjustified projections of inner anger; characterized by the desire to meet one's expectations right away, being dictatorial, and leading a boxed-in existence/life

Sensuality - the inordinate longing for pleasure; the compulsive (irresponsible?) acting out of unmet needs

No to the "tyranny of unresolved sexual trauma"! If we suspect anyone with this issue, we can suggest for him or her to seek the help of psychotherapists, counselors, confessors, or other mental health professionals, preferably non-gay affirmative therapists.

When scientists become politicians

You want to read: The APA Vote On Same-Sex Marriage: The Inside Story By Joseph Berger, M.D.

Note that after homosexuality was deleted among the DSM-listed mental illnesses, APA nonetheless retained homosexuality in the list of "sexual disorders" together with pedophilia and sadomasochism. This is a little-known fact that's never reported in the media.

Today, the use of "dysfunction" is preferred to soften the hurtful effect of "mental illness." After all, homosexuality is not, strictly speaking, a psychotic state like schizophrenia or a disease like leprosy. As explained in other posts below this one, it is a psychosexual (emotional-sexual) complex, mostly a result of early life trauma and a failure of male gender modeling growing up. But if APA can classify caffeine-induced anxiety and four other caffeine-induced dysfunctions as mental disorders or mental illnesses, then why the hilarious double standard? We can grant that little semantic adjustment in the name of charity anytime.

However, magnanimity must end where reverse discrimination starts, as when gays lobby via the PR wars in the world's legislatures for the criminalization of criticizing homosexual lifestyle, among other maneuvers, which threatens to penalize and put behind bars all noncompliant Christians (that's you and me) and other anti-gay life forces, using our very own taxes. This enforced persecution, a new form of fascism, is long- and many-tentacled, profoundly reaching all homes as well as employment, educational, religious, military, medical, psychotherapeutic, and other institutions. If the bills are passed into laws, stiff penalties and stratospheric lawyers' fees shall await all dissidents to the tune of millions for offenses perceived as "hate crime" or "discriminatory." (A more detailed discussion of this later, if needed.)

Since our actions are not driven by hate, we know we will not go into proposing the criminalization of homosexual acts. Nor are we even asking people to boycott anything with pro-gay agenda -- though that course of action is a very easy route to take, with results that will be highly favorable to us.

All we're after, at this point, is this: Let's all join hands in blocking the passing of House Bill 5203 and House Bill 956 sponsored by party-list Rep. Rissa Hontiveros-Baraquel, by letting our congressmen/women hear the majority voice on December 9, 2009 at the Philippine Congress. Please help in educating our lawmakers, teachers, psychologists, psychotherapists, counselors, priests, nuns, scientists, artists, doctors, writers, parents, and media practitioners on the truth about homosexuality.

And, oh, may somebody help stop the intrusion of politics into the scientific fields. For once, let's restore decency in science by snatching it back from the clutches of manipulative men and women.

Alternative look at gay films/plays

This Christmas, I invite you to watch certain films (and plays) to realize how homosexual artists have unwittingly demonstrated the truth about homosexuality -- while all the while telling us to accept homosexuality as normal and natural. Here are just some of the must-watch works that even our brightest film critics failed to mention what they are really about:

Emotional dependency

Leaving Las Vegas - The ugliness initially repulsed me and the snail pace surely incensed me, but I realize even the brightest film critics got this meant-to-be-repugnant film all wrong. Why? Because this is a film about the utter evil and sheer hellishness of a codependent relationship, not the gloriousness of real and allegedly unconditional love. The film could not have been intended to glorify alcoholism and emotional dependency because it captures the perfect tone and depth of ED, plumbing the hellish abyss with correctly unappetizing tints and equally frustrating pace and dialogue. Not a gay film, yes, but explores the same dynamic as that of gay relationships.

Self-hatred and obsession

The Talented Mr. Ripley - It's self-hatred that drives the Matt Damon character to desire the fabulous Jude Law character so much as to become himself. Obsession is past envy, way past it; it is caused by the total loss of self-esteem, driving the obsessed to stalk his subject to the ends of the earth and, if his idolatry is unrequited, to bludgeon him with impunity.

Father hunger, attachment loss, shame, emotional dependency

Zsa-zsa Zaturnnah - Do you realize how Zsa-zsa's deep father hunger drives him to a deep depression and hatred of self? His rebellion (as defense mechanism) becomes complete as he turns into Wonder Woman and, in a great demonstration of compulsive caretaking, saves an entire town from monstrous giants.

Brokeback Mountain - Notice how abnormally intense gay relationships are. Ang Lee's filmic rendition disappointed me big time because I happened to have read (and loved) the Annie Proulx original (a short story), and I just have to out Ang Lee for having deleted crucial scenes depicting the sordid father-figure backstories of both protagonists. Ang Lee: Loser!

The brittleness of so-called gay love

Duda - This explores the constant mistrust and discontent between gay lovers because, unknowingly, that 'love' is based on flimsy physical attraction, which is pure sexualized envy.

Isolation and social misfitry

Rent - The script of this play is one of the best I've ever encountered, but despite its life-affirming mantra, which is even used as a Christmas carol, its one fatal flaw is that it celebrates emotional dependency in both hetero- and homosexual couplings without so much as a once-over, making it eevil.

The ill effects of bullying

Ma Vie en Rose - A boy grows up being different and is thus constantly bullied as a resident weakling in school, embittering him for the lack of peer acceptance and making the poor boy fail big-time in modeling his gender's peer behavior -- this despite his loving parents. Ah, the travails of the prehomosexual child, a child highly predisposed to same-sex attraction all because of his sensitive, delicate, clingy nature and possibly superior IQ. Ever wondered why gays are artistic and highly talented? Because they possess that one risk factor, not because they were born with a gay gene.

Facade of happiness

The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert - This bright, hilarious, and campy Australian film -- a roadtrip within a roadtrip -- about the life of drag queens shows how the secret life of the men in scintillating silver sequins and ostrich feathers is anything but happy and gay. Why? Surprise!

The Birdcage - same remarks as above

Lonely, depressive life

Gods and Monsters - This is about the dreary last years of a gay horror movie director who used to hold nude poolside parties during his salad days.

Sex mania

Wilde - A look at the private life of the great gay Irish writer, including his insatiable drive for casual sex with pretty young men.

Transactional and casual sex

Masahista - This shows how gays sublimate their deep longing for male love and affirmation by renting the loving touch of beautiful boys. Gay guy looks for love, while rent boy is slaving for money; transactional 'love' is the best he could offer from the arrangement. Sad, but true story.

Child sex abuse

Gee-Gee at Waterina - The tragicomic life and times of the cross-dresser Waterina Markova, a victim of child sex abuse, as revealed in conversations about love and life with his gay politician-friend.

You can search my blog for my separate reviews of some of the above titles.

If I have missed certain titles, please alert this blogger. Thanks. Merry Christmas!

Dynamics of sexual traumatization

The following is something I've learned from an inner child retreat. I hope this will help us understand victims of child abuse and their resultant compulsions, including homosexual activity. This is what we are vehemently and vigilantly guarding against: positive legislation for an inherently disordered sexual proclivity. Compassion, caring, healing, love, and protection are what's needed by homosexuals (which are abstractions that, strictly speaking, cannot be legislated or are very to legislate, unless we want totalitarianism); what they don't need are normalization, rationalization, and desensitization of the entire society to homosexual acts. (As to criminalization, well, I leave that to experts (although I've learned that even expertise is not impervious to politics). The intrusion of the State in the middle of sex between two consenting adults is just too problematic.) These are things the pro-gay lobby and their blind and irresponsible media friends don't want you to know.

Sex abuse is one of the several factors 'causing' homosexuality, though not really a necessary causative factor. Here's what happens to victims of child sex abuse:

Sexually abused or molested child --> State of shock --> Inability to resolve trauma (Feeling of helplessness; unexpressed emotions) --> Core defenses (Denial, Memory repression, and Dissociation) --> Survival living

Overwhelmed, the traumatized child protects his/her abuser (often parents, caregivers) and instead blames himself/herself. The child thus lives with a complex of shame, anger, and/or fear.

Shame - the collapse of borrowed self-image (resulting in loss of or very low self-esteem)
Anger - the quiet rebellion of helplessness
Fear - the insecurities of bugging questions

Self-delusion: The child then believes his/her delusional self as he/she mystifies and starts his/her cycle of dark secrets.

Post-trauma, shame has especially its own complex dynamic:

Painful memory --> Primal shame --> Defense mechanism (Isolation/Hiding) --> Toxic shame (False self) --> Secondary shame (to save face) --> Mystification (Delusional self - second-nature, unconscious) --> More painful experiences --> More defenses

Long after the sexual trauma, the victim (that's essentially what a sexually traumatized child is) lives in a vicious cycle of toxic shame.

On the semi-conscious level, the defense involves medication of the intolerable pain resulting in --> Addictions (and other forms of self-mutilation), Compulsions (compulsive masturbation and viewing of porn), Disorders --> Numbness, confusion, pain

Same-sex attraction is among the resultant disorders due to sexual trauma if the child's need for gender modeling is unmet. Homosexuality is but a symptom of a many-layered problem, thanks to years of 'complexation' of the above 'toxicities.' So that means good luck to any boy:

- whose father is emotionally distant and whose mother is overbearing or domineering in his life, OR
- whose male peers bully him in school or in the neighborhood playground, OR
- who has gone through other early-life traumas (unsuccessful/attempted abortion, adoption, abandonment, traumatic separation from siblings, premature birth (?), parental death (?)), AND/OR
- has a sensitive nature/constitution.

This is how boys become "homo," "sissy," or "gay." If they discover sex prematurely (thanks to porn and sex offenders), they will learn that it brings the necessary high to cover up an internal anguish they are barely aware of and thus don't understand. Underlying homosexuality is a strong reparative drive to repair or undo the damage, to compensate for the loss in an exaggerated way, hence the exaggerated attraction for boys/men with the masculine qualities the homosexual person subconciously wants to have very badly.

Wonder why "gays" insist on special protection? Because they deserve it. Their plea is legitimate. However, the solutions they have in mind are bothersome because they refuse to acknowledge that homosexuality is a problem, insisting instead that it is a natural or normal condition that has to be accepted by society without conditions. That's a lie that has to stop because it's been proclaimed as gospel truth for so long by well-funded, well-coordinated gay propagandists around the world, starting with their friends, the many American psychologists.

We have all fallen victim to their quest for social desensitization by using the strategy of eating media alive. Let's not further fall for more of their lies. Instead of further traumatizing, shaming, belittling, or tormenting homosexuals with hurtful words, we should extend them a loving hand, but only if they want help. Unlike Perez Hilton, we are not fascists. Hate will only be met with more hate, more fascism, more terrorism.

However, tolerance of gay acts that cross the thin line between compulsion and crime has to have a limit as well, or society falls apart. Bad precedents will only breed more constitutional provisions and human rights legislations founded on gruesome lies, in the end using our very own taxes to imprison or penalize you and I for alleged hate crimes and discriminative acts. (Maybe the legislators in New York suddenly realized this, no? After the Adam Lambert fiasco at the American Music Awards? Thank you, Adam Lambert, for giving us exactly the evidence we needed in order to demonize the pro-gay cause.)

Btw, sex molesters are most likely victims of child abuse themselves, because that's one of the several damages of sex trauma: the tendency to recreate painful emotional dynamics -- no doubt a result of negative imprinting or programming.

The child we once were we still are. If we are unaware of it and decide not to act on it, our life-view as a young child is not erasable, it is indelible. It is programmed within us. We relive our childhood in different ways as an adult. The Law of Creative Consistency states that we remember only those events from early childhood that are consistent with our present view of ourselves and the world. We are thus bound to repeat our past as compulsions in the present.

This, however, is no excuse to further victimize and perpetuate the cycle of untold suffering in the world. The ex-molested and potential sex molester can learn to say no.

Warning Signs of Unresolved Grief (as a result of denial)

- Caretaking - projection of missed caring on to someone else (who's similarly situated); a less painful way of coping
- Extreme anger - furious rage without sorrow; indicates pathological dependence when the mourner's sense of wellbeing is threatened by loss
- Extreme guilt - unnatural preoccupation with guilt, resulting in the need to punish self even for ambivalent reasons; connections are strong but neagtive, thus the sense of ambiguity
- Depression - unfelt sorrow over a loss, deadening the person's emotional inner world and reducing connectivity
- Emotional numbness - lack of emotional responsiveness and spontaneity, which lasts from minutes to decades
- Self-Mutilation - smoking etc.; a result of loss and separation


Warning Signs of Unresolved Trauma

- Risk-taking behavior
- Desire to self-medicate with alcohol or drugs (Just a thought: Could it be that it is really the underlying anger that causes cancer and other diseases, not the alcohol, tobacco or drugs, which are just accidental accompaniment?)
- Chronic or recurring depression or feeling of despair
- Emotional constriction/constipation/Lack of affect/spontaneity
- Drive to recreate painful emotional dynamics
- Loss of ability to modulate emotion
- Inability to take in support
- Psychosomatic symptoms
- Hypervigilance

I wonder if we have support groups to aid victims of child sex abuse correctly. I wonder if nonprofits like Bantay Bata are helpful. Our legislators should instead help address the issue by focusing on the root of the problem instead of busily conniving with falsehood and wrongdoing, knowingly or unknowingly.

Please inform everyone you know regarding the truth about homosexuality. (References to be provided soon.) Let the lies end.

Invite

(Press release)



The Center for Ignatian Spirituality invites you to Praying With Your Dreams by Fr. Celerino Reyes, SJ.

Interpreting. Identifying. Praying with your dreams. From the unconscious to contemplation.

Recollection on a way to connecting dreams in the realities of your life and praying with them on December 12, 2009 (food and mass included) from 8:30 am to 4:30 pm at Ollado Room, Loyola School of Theology, Ateneo de Manila Campus, Katipunan Avenue, Quezon City



Help spread the word! Tweet, Plurk, and blog about this! For cost and reservations kindly visit our website at www.cisphil.org or email us at cis@cisphil.org or cisphil@gmail.com. Visit us at Center for Ignatian Spirituality Office, Seminary Road, Ateneo de Manila Campus, Katipunan Avenue, Quezon City or call (02)4264250- 51 and look for Ms. Marie Sandrino or Ms. Joy Drilon-Panti.

www.cisphil.org
email us: cis@cisphil.org or cisphil@gmail.com

GMA sings and dances to "I Will Survive"

(Forwarded email of the day)

GMA, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE RESIGN!!! NOW!!!

_____________________

From: http://professional heckler.wordpress.com/ (Loi Reyes Landicho's
> blog)

> PRESIDENT ARROYO has officially filed her certificate of candidacy for a
> Congressional seat in her home province of Pampanga in next year’s polls.
> This parody of a Gloria Gaynor hit was inspired by this latest political
> development.
>
> Note: Before you start singing, please right click this link
> http://www.youtube. com/watch? v=ZBR2G-iI3- I
> and open in a new window for musical accompaniment.
>
> GMA:
> “First, I am not afraid
> I’m not petrified
> Kept thinking I could always live
> with immunity by my side
> Though I spent so many nights
> thinking I did nothing wrong
> I am strong
> I learned how to carry on
>
> So I’ll go back
> to my old place
> ’Though I walked out to find you all
> with that mad look upon your face
> I should replace my stupid son
> I’d soon be their congresswoman
> If I had known it’s quick and easy
> I should’ve just run for VP
>
> THE PEOPLE:
> Go on now go, walk out the door
> just disappear now
> ’cause you’re not welcome anymore
> weren’t you the one who tried not to bid your post goodbye
> you think you’d Con Ass
> you think we’d let you even try
>
> GMA:
> Oh no, not I
> I will survive
> oh as long as i know how to bribe
> I know I will stay alive
> I’ve got all my life to live
> I’ve got all my cash to give
> and I’ll survive
> I will survive
>
> It took all the strength I had
> not to fall apart
> kept trying hard to fight
> the media, the Left, and all bishops
> and I spent oh so many nights
> rehearsing how to perfect lies
> I will not cry
> I will hold my head up high
>
> And you’ll see me
> in Congress soon
> I will not be that stuck-up person
> who refused to hold press cons
> I now hope for charter change
> In twenty-ten, yeah, hopefully
> I’ll be saving all my power
> for what else? Prime Ministry!
>
> THE PEOPLE:
> Go on now go, walk out the door
> just disappear now
> ’cause you’re not welcome anymore
> weren’t you the one who freed Bolante and Garci
> you think they’re friendly
> you redefined impunity
>
> GMA:
> Oh no, not I
> I will survive
> oh as long as i know how to bribe
> I know I will stay alive
> I’ve got all my life to live
> I’ve got all my cash to give
> and I’ll survive
> I will survive hey hey
>
> Thank you Ms Pia Hontiveros-Pagkalinawan for featuring this post on ANC’s
> Strictly Politics.

Breaking news

From the de facto capital of the world, no less. Congrats, New York! Didn't expect that. Makes me wonder why the world's intellectual capital wanna be stuck in the Medieval Age. ;p

________________________________

Breaking News Alert
The New York Times
Wed, December 02, 2009 -- 3:09 PM ET
-----

The New York State Senate Votes Down Gay Marriage Bill, 38-24

The State Senate defeated a bill on Wednesday that would
legalize same-sex marriage, after an emotional debate that
touched on civil rights, family and history. The vote means
that the bill, pushed by Gov. David A. Paterson, is
effectively dead for the year and destroys the optimism of
gay advocates.

Quotes

I’m a snob, so I had low expectations when I received yet another recovery movement book as a gift. It is titled Building Self-Esteem. I am thus edified to find lines I wish I invented, lines using the simplest language but packing a lot of truth.

Law of compensation: If we feel deprived of something, we just want it all the more!

The power of feelings: Working through feelings and talking about them make them less powerful and not so overwhelming.

Joy: Laughter of the soul is what Christians call joy.

Unconditional love : A life with little love can receive and give love (because there’s such a thing as unconditional love). Love can be learned even if we have never been deeply loved.

Tillich on grace: In grace something is overcome; grace occurs in spite of something; grace occurs in spite of estrangement and separation. Grace is the reunion of life with life, the reconciliation of the self with itself. Grace transforms fate into a meaningful destiny; it changes guilt into confidence and courage. There is something triumphant in the word ‘grace’; in spite of the abounding of sin grace abounds much more…** Sometimes… a wave of light breaks into our darkness, and it is as though a voice were saying: ‘You are accepted. You are accepted, accepted by that which is greater than you, and the name of which you do not know. Do not ask for the name now; perhaps you will find it later. Do not try to do anything now; perhaps later you will do much. Do not seek for anything; do not perform anything; do not intend anything. Simply accept that you are accepted!” - Paul Tillich, The Shaking of the Foundation

Chance: The idea that we human beings are here just by chance is about as likely as a tornado rushing through a car scrapyard producing a complete and fully functioning car. - Prince Charles, New Year’s Day, Jan 2000 (Who was it again who said that chance is a measure of man’s ignorance?)